James Bond's Walther gun could see $300,000 in Hollywood auction

A Walther gun used by Sean Connery as James Bond in the promotional materials for four films will auction at Profiles in History on June 28.

The promo images from the shoot were used for a total of four James Bond films

The air gun was last seen at auction with Sotheby's in December 2012, when it made �121,250 ($195,672).

However, prior to this, it sold at Christie's in 2010 for �277,250 ($437,501), making a 1,036% increase on its pre-sale estimate of �20,000 and setting the world record for a James Bond gun.

The pistol will now star in the present sale valued at $200,000-300,000.

The air gun previously set the record for the most valuable James Bond gun ever sold at auction

It was publicist Tom Carlile who arranged the shoot with photographer David Hurn to create the iconic poster for From Russia with Love (1963), which is today considered the finest James Bond artwork ever created.

However, when Sean Connery arrived at the studio, the team discovered that no one had remembered to bring Bond's trademark Walther semi-automatic pistol.

By chance, David Hurn practised air pistol target shooting as a hobby and used a Walther in his training. The pair decided to use Hurn's gun to replace the Walther PPK without telling anyone else, though they had intended to air brush the replacement's much longer barrel.

The subsequent images of Bond posing with the gun were not only used for From Russia with Love, but were also employed for Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965) and You Only Live Twice (1967).

Also starring in the sale is the micro jet used in all of the flying sequences from the Bond film Octopussy (1983), which is valued at $200,000-300,000.